Commonwealth 12/D if you can find one.
Not all vintage is good. If it was a top pro deck back then it’ll be up there now. Not all modern is good. Same rule applies. If it is good now it’ll hold it’s own in the future. As a record producer and mastering engineer cutting vinyl everyday we have 7 turntables and a lathe. We use the best of breed both ancient and modern. No bias except that the good vintage stuff was not built to a price. It was built to last and the professional side of the business using and making the products had big R&D budgets: RCA, Decca, EMI, Western Electric, BBC. Those budgets have shrunk now. The only money being spent is for high end home stuff now or pro software. This is why good vintage matches good modern. Emphasis on the word “good”.
Also it depends on the application. For my radio show, Technics. It’s not all about sonics in that scenario because the output is compressed and normalised.
It’s more about useable and reliable gear.
In the studio flat response and several reference decks to be sure. EMT, Audio Note, Rega, lathe in playback mode and TW Acustic.
At home musicality and aesthetics are more important.
For me only the Commonwealth does it all. Like an EMT but built like a lathe. It’s actually quiet for an idler too.
Not all vintage is good. If it was a top pro deck back then it’ll be up there now. Not all modern is good. Same rule applies. If it is good now it’ll hold it’s own in the future. As a record producer and mastering engineer cutting vinyl everyday we have 7 turntables and a lathe. We use the best of breed both ancient and modern. No bias except that the good vintage stuff was not built to a price. It was built to last and the professional side of the business using and making the products had big R&D budgets: RCA, Decca, EMI, Western Electric, BBC. Those budgets have shrunk now. The only money being spent is for high end home stuff now or pro software. This is why good vintage matches good modern. Emphasis on the word “good”.
Also it depends on the application. For my radio show, Technics. It’s not all about sonics in that scenario because the output is compressed and normalised.
It’s more about useable and reliable gear.
In the studio flat response and several reference decks to be sure. EMT, Audio Note, Rega, lathe in playback mode and TW Acustic.
At home musicality and aesthetics are more important.
For me only the Commonwealth does it all. Like an EMT but built like a lathe. It’s actually quiet for an idler too.